


A Self Made Man

by Wolfsbride



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 20:23:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3909397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsbride/pseuds/Wolfsbride
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spock Prime makes an impression.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Self Made Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tayryn/gifts).



> For Tayryn - because she hates the reboot :D

Kirk sat up in bed, gasping for breath. The sheets slithered down his body and bunched at his waist; a light sheen of sweat covered his skin. He rubbed a hand over his face, brushing the moisture from his forehead.

“Lights. Twenty five percent.”

The room brightened slightly and Kirk slumped forward, head drooping low. Now that Nero had been dealt with and he was no longer running on adrenaline, it seemed his mind was determined to linger over certain events. His heart was still pounding in remembered fear. Images and feelings flickered through him - his mad flight into the cave on Delta Vega; his certainty that he wasn’t going to be able to cheat death one more time.

And then he had arrived. His first impression was a blur of white and fire and the strange noises the creature had made as it was forced back out of the cave. And then stillness, filled with the almost deafening sound of his harsh frantic breathing.

He lay on the ice trying to catch his breath, conscious of the cold seeping into his body despite his heavy clothing. Looking up, he was aware of the height and breadth of his rescuer. The broad back, the greying hair, the pointed ears that made him wonder exactly who he’d been saved by. And then the man had turned, a trace of shock flaring briefly in his eyes before he’d spoken.

_James T Kirk._

His name, said in a way he’d never heard before. It seemed like an affirmation of all that he was, all that he could be, all that he would be. By someone he’d never met.

_I have been, and always shall be, your friend._

An oath, a solemn promise, an unbroken vow – words shaped and given weight by a warm voice that reached him beyond range of hearing. They touched an empty place deep inside him that he hadn’t even known existed and he felt his face twist in disbelief.

He didn’t have friends. Well, there was Bones, though he sometimes felt the older man was getting tired of putting up with his antics. He had acquaintances, drinking buddies, sex partners, but no one that looked at him with such intense regard and swore undying loyalty.

_You are not the Captain?_

It was the faint note of surprise that made him almost laugh. The idea that someone, even someone who thought they knew him, would think him worthy of the position. It was ridiculous. He was smart. He knew he was. He also knew what his instructors thought of him. Brash, cocky, reckless, definitely not Starfleet’s idea of what a Captain should be.

_Our minds, one and together._

The fingertips on his face seared his skin for a moment and the scent of the smoke from the fire seemed to fill his nostrils before both sensations faded into the background. Then images started flowing by, underscored by the mellow voice that soothed his fears, that anchored him and kept him from being swept away by what he was seeing.

_Forgive me. Emotional transference is an effect of the mind meld._

He turned away. He couldn’t help it. It was either that or breakdown completely. It was a struggle to force the sobs back, eyes burning with tears, throat closed by the strength of the feelings coursing through him.

Emotions that were not his own, but some of which he could understand. Grief – a tidal wave threatening to drown him. Guilt – a dark heavy blanket smothering him.

And others equally overwhelming, that he had no idea what to do with. The wonder this Spock felt at the mere sight of him, as though he were a longed for yet unexpected gift. The depth of the love he carried for a Kirk who was not he, that made him ponder his own barren life. What shook him the most was the firm unshakeable belief that he would rise to his potential.

It made him stagger away, desperate to put distance, however small, between himself and this Spock who was so different. Pike had challenged him to surpass his father; this Spock believed he would.

“Lights off.”

Breathing deeply, Kirk pushed the images, sensations, feelings back and lay down again. He wondered if the older Vulcan knew how much that moment had changed him. He supposed it might have grated on someone else’s nerves, being held to such high standards. To him it was like someone illuminating his way so that he could see there were other paths he could take. He didn’t have to live in the shadow of his father. He could be his own man.


End file.
